Memories
by zabani-chan
Summary: The memories of what happened on 9/11 to a member of Team Gibbs. 'Memories' is also part of the 9/11 Challenge by Enthusiastic Fish on NFA.


Gone, but Not Forgotten

Zabani-chan

**Disclaimer: My 9/11 story for NCIS. This is my first NCIS ff, so I hope everyone is IC and not too OOC.**

"Ladies! Hurry up!" Tim yelled up the stairs, "Or I'll leave without you!"

"No! Wait!"

"We're coming!"

Two children's voices shouted hurriedly. Quick footsteps could be heard upstairs as they tried to finish getting ready. A third voice was heard as the owner of said voice walked down the stairs towards Tim. She was of slim build with a bit of baby fat on her cheeks, with almond colored eyes and pale skin. She wore a grey short sleeve mini dress with front pockets and black spandex pants with ankle boots with her dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail.

"Aren't they a little young to be called 'ladies'?"

Tim smiled.

"Nope. You three are the ladies of my life." he said. She smiled.

"Charmer."

"Gentleman." he countered.

She giggled and stood beside him as they waited for the girls.

"Alright! Time's up! I'm leaving!" Tim said, making dramatic footfalls as he headed for the door.

"No!" They screeched as they ran down the stairs and tackled his legs, wearing matching long sleeve brown flower dot jumpers with pink ballet slippers. He yelped as he fought for balance.

He glared playfully at them when he did before smiling.

"Ok. Everyone ready?"

All three ladies nodded.

"Alright, you two. Remember where we're going?" Janet asked.

They nodded.

"And you remember to be on your best behavior so your daddy can get this job?" she asked.

They nodded again.

"Ok. We're ready." She smiled at Tim.

~*~*~*8

"Gear up! We have a dead marine." Gibbs said as he walked to his desk, a cup of coffee present in his hand.

"Yes boss!" They said, grabbing their bags, guns and badges and following him to the elevator.

"Where at?" Tony asked.

"Frederick."

"Who called it in?" Ziva asked.

"His wife."

"Alright. You three head up to the Windows on the World restaurant and I'll meet you there after my interview." Tim said, bending to hug the twins.

"Gotcha. We will be there enjoying the view while you sit in a stuffy office being questioned." Janet said, smirking. The girls giggled.

"Yeah, yeah." Tim stood and kissed her on the cheek.

"See you later."

"Love you."

"Love you too. Be good, girls." He smiled and waved as he walked off, heading towards 2 WTC.

"Bye bye, Daddy!"

*******8

"DiNozzo! Interview the wife. Ziva, witnesses. McGee, evidence."

"Yes, Boss."

They each went off to do their job while Gibbs went to find the agent in charge.

Ten minutes later, Tony, Ziva and McGee were heading towards Gibbs, Tony looking disturbed.

"Hey, uh...Boss. I can't get her to talk. All she does is cry."

Gibbs looked at him for a moment before looking at Ziva. She put her hands up quickly.

"I am not good with people who cry. You know this."

"Uh...Boss?"

Gibbs looked at McGee.

"Yeah?"

"You think...maybe I could try and talk to her?" he asked.

Gibbs started at him for a moment before nodding.

"If you think you can."

~*~*~*8

Tim looked out the window of the 90th floor, looking down at the people below.

'They look like ants.'

At the sound of an engine roaring, he looked up. His eyes widened in shock as a plane crashed into 2 WTC, the explosion shaking 1 WTC slightly, causing people to lose their balance and hurry to the window to see what happened. Shouts filled the hallway, full of disbelief. Tim didn't hear anything, though. All he could see was the gaping, smoke-filled hole in the Tower, floors below his family. He was pulled into the office behind him, the man asking him if he was Timothy McGee and if he was here for an interview.

*******8

They watched as McGee walked over to the lady and knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and listened as he spoke. Then she started crying as she hugged him tightly, his arms going around her, as well. They sat like that for a few minutes before she calmed enough to answer his questions.

When he headed back over to them, there was a look in his eyes they had never seen before and never thought they would see. Emptiness.

"How did you get her to talk?" Tony demanded.

McGee kept walking, not even stopping as he answered.

"We have something in common."

~*~*~*8

"The next 15 minutes flew by in a blur. Before anyone knew it, another plane had crashed into 1 WTC, just 3 floors above me. Everything after that was a blank, until I woke up buried in rubble, one my best friends next to me, his leg impaled by...something. Everything around us had caught on something else so that we were in a small hole-like enclosure. I was stuck, so I couldn't help him. By what, I didn't know then. According to the firefighter who rescued us, we were down there 48 hours. 48 hours of watching my friend bleed out and slip into a coma. He died en-route to the hospital.

I don't think any of you understand, and I hope you never will, what it was like to be buried with a friend and watching him slowly die, breathing in who-knows-what, hearing nothing but the groan of steel above your heads and clatter of smaller things falling, and far-off sirens that sound like mere whispers...and before that hearing the roar of a plane engine and seeing it hit N Tower and hearing the explosion and the screams, watching friends and strangers alike jump hundreds of stories to the ground, hearing the dull thump even so far up, watching paper fly around in the air like sort of symbol, knowing that you're family is trapped up there and not being able to do anything...before hearing another plane engine and both seeing and feeling it impact just floors above you.

That close...you can feel the heat and smell the engine fuel and you know that have to get out. The panic, the fear, the desperation, the despair. You never forget it." He trailed off, mind elsewhere. The rest just sat there, able to picture everything with the way he explained it.

Tony watched the young man he had taken under his wing stare blankly at the tv in his living room. They had been curious as to what him and the lady had in common, and had questioned him all day until he caved and told them to come over if they wanted to know. So Tony, Ziva and Gibbs sat around his living room, drinking beer and listening in horror, shocked that he had been through something like that. Gibbs, especially, partially knew what he was feeling, having lost a child, as well.

"Probie."

Tim looked at up at Tony.

"You said you were stuck. How?"

The silence told them that they probably didn't want to know. After a while, Tim stood up and, without looking at any of them, started taking off his shirt. The bad feeling they had, started to get worse, as they realized that they had only ever seen him with his shirt off twice before, but both times they hadn't really paid attention to notice anything out of the ordinary.

He dropped the shirt to the floor and sat back down before they could get a good look, bending over to roll up his right pant leg to his knee before standing again.

They looked in shock at the scar covering his shin, wrapping around from his knee to his ankle. The scar on his chest and back looked like a through and through and was circular in shape and about three inches wide was just below his rib cage.

"Wha..." Tony couldn't get the words out. Ziva had brought her hand up to her mouth, unable to take her eyes off the scar that showed how close to death her friend had been. Gibbs was stone faced, mouth pinched and eyes narrowed in grief.

"I was impaled by a steel pole in my chest, and a hot wire had wrapped around my leg. The doctors told me...that had I lost as much blood as my friend, I would've died long before we were found. Then they told me that I was lucky to be alive. That the pole had been inches away everything vital."

He looked at them, eyes dark with pain.

"Janet, Norah and Carmen died that day. The first plane hit just floors beneath the restaurant they were at. If they were lucky and had started to make their way down with other, they didn't make it before the tower collapsed."

He took a photo from the fireplace and handed it to them.

A photo of happier times.

A proud father, a happy mother and two adorable little girls.

A photo, of which three people, were gone forever, but never forgotten.

*********8

End


End file.
